World Health Organisation in touch with Beijing after mystery viral pneumonia outbreak
- Authorities in central city of Wuhan say market will be closed indefinitely ‘for sanitation and renovation’
- Law enforcement officers stand guard outside on Wednesday as stallholders allowed to remove seafood stocks
The World Health Organisation said it is in ongoing contact with authorities in China over an unidentified outbreak of viral pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, amid concern it may have been transmitted from animals.
Wuhan health authorities on Tuesday said 27 people – most of them stallholders at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market – had been treated in hospital, with seven said to be in serious condition. Pathology tests were under way to try and identify the virus, officials said. Hong Kong medical authorities were also on alert.
Wuhan authorities ordered the closure of the market on Wednesday. Local media said the market sold other animals, including birds, raising concern after the 2002-03 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in China killed several hundred people and is thought to have jumped from animals to humans.
Officials in China and at the WHO said the virus in Wuhan had yet to be identified.
“Investigations are still being carried out and authorities cannot yet confirm what pathogen is causing this illness,” said Paige Snider, a senior adviser with the WHO in China, adding that the organisation had been in contact with Chinese authorities.